. >> i think you're going to see a very engaged president that is ready and willing to cal out whichever mitt romney shows up. >> and you have to admit that is not the president who showed up in the first debate? >> again, i'm not going to take away from mitt's masterful, theater performance. he did a great job, everything but learning tab dance. >> romney has two advantages, first, there are two major differences in the approaches, the second is, every time they add a truly vicious ad, and you see romney, that is just what happened to reagan. >> and joining us, political analyst and larry sabato, director of the university of virginia, center for politics, good to see you both. gentlemen, you just heard robert gibbs, he was saying that president obama would be more engaged in the next debate. but really tried to portray mitt romney as a chameleon. is that really the thing that they can focus on at this point? >> well, the campaign certainly hopes he is not lessen engage -- engaged or as engaged, but he has to bring up his game. he was playing not to lose, what they call prevent defense,